## Facts

- The Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act (CPIA), 19 U.S.C. §§ 2601–2613, authorizes U.S. import restrictions on designated categories of foreign archaeological or ethnological material pursuant to executive-branch determinations and agreements.
- The United States imposed CPIA import restrictions on certain Cypriot and Chinese cultural property, implemented through State Department designated lists and enforced by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (Customs).
- The Ancient Coin Collectors Guild (Guild), a nonprofit of ancient-coin collectors, bought 23 ancient coins identified as Cypriot and Chinese from a London dealer to create a test case.
- The Guild attempted to import the coins without documentation showing the coins were exported from Cyprus or China before the relevant CPIA effective dates or were lawfully exported after those dates.
- Customs detained and later seized the coins, stating the coins could be released upon production of required export/provenance documentation.
- The Guild sued federal agencies and officials, challenging both the legality of the import restrictions (including their scope) and Customs’ enforcement actions, primarily under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).

## Issues

1. Whether challenges to the executive branch’s CPIA determinations, negotiations, agreements, and designated lists are subject to judicial review under the APA or are committed to the political branches.
2. Whether the CPIA required Cyprus and China to specifically request restrictions on coins, and whether the CPIA barred restrictions that describe coins by type rather than by proof of discovery within the requesting state.
3. Whether Customs acted unlawfully by detaining and seizing the Guild’s coins and requiring documentation of lawful export as a condition of importation.

## Decision

- The Fourth Circuit affirmed the district court’s dismissal of the Guild’s complaint.
- The court held that the Guild’s claims largely sought judicial supervision of CPIA implementation choices tied to foreign affairs and delegated executive discretion, which were not amenable to the searching APA review requested.
- The court rejected the Guild’s statutory arguments aimed at invalidating the designated lists and the scope of coin restrictions.
- The court upheld Customs’ detention and seizure practices as consistent with the CPIA’s import regime and ordinary customs enforcement.

## Legal Principles

- CPIA implementation decisions involving foreign-affairs judgments—such as negotiating and structuring agreements, making predicate determinations, and defining designated lists—are largely committed to the political branches and are not subject to intrusive APA review.
- Coins may qualify as “archaeological or ethnological material” under the CPIA and can be placed on designated lists if the executive branch acts within the CPIA’s statutory framework.
- The CPIA does not require a requesting country to enumerate every specific object type later included on a designated list, and the statute does not categorically forbid restrictions framed by general typological descriptions.
- Customs may condition entry of covered material on documentation showing export predating CPIA effective dates or otherwise establishing lawful export; detention and seizure consistent with CPIA restrictions are permissible enforcement measures.

## Conclusion

The Fourth Circuit sustained CPIA-based import restrictions covering certain Cypriot and Chinese coins and upheld Customs’ seizures, concluding that the Guild’s APA challenge improperly sought judicial reexamination of foreign-affairs and discretionary executive determinations that the CPIA assigns to the political branches.


Ancient Coin Collectors Guild v. U.S. Customs & Border Prot., 698 F.3d 171 (4th Cir. 2012)